Nice is today named “France’s flirtiest city” by the compilers of the largest ever study of online flirting.

Grenoble ranks 2nd, while Strasbourg and Marseille rank equal 3rd in France’s first “National Flirtation League”, compiled by Badoo.com (www.badoo.com) , the world’s largest Social Network for meeting new people with over 111 million users chatting and flirting in 180 countries across the world.

Paris, France’s capital and largest city, is named only its sixth flirtiest city.

Badoo’s flirtation league ranks France’s cities by the number of online chats/flirtations initiated per month by the average Badoo user in each city. The results for France are part of a larger global study, analysing 12 million flirtatious contacts made during one month on Badoo.

“This is a proud day for Nice”, says Lloyd Price, Badoo’s Director of Marketing. “‘Nice la Belle’ from now on is also ‘Nice le Flirt’.”

It is also a new claim to fame for a city previously best known as a popular tourist destination, an inspiration for artists including Chagall and Matisse and the birthplace of Guisseppe Garibaldi, who unified Italy 150 years ago this year.

The average Badoo user in Nice initiates 22.3 online flirtations per month. This is slightly more than in Grenoble (21.2) in second but comfortably more than in Paris (20.7) in sixth place and much more than in Lille (18.4), France’s 20th most flirtatious city.

The South of France is revealed by the study to be flirtier than the North. Cities in the southern half of the country are among four of France’s five flirtiest cities. “Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the beach”, says Lloyd Price.

Badoo users in Nice not only out-flirt those in Paris but also in, for example, Madrid (21.3), London (19.0), Amsterdam (18.4); Berlin (17.1), Istanbul (16.6); Buenos Aires (16.3); New York (16.1) and Rio de Janeiro (12.4).

“This proves that French flirters can compete at an international level”, says Lloyd Price.

The average number of flirtations initiated per month by Badoo users in French cities overall is 20.0.

Badoo users in even the flirtiest French cities, however, cannot match their counterparts in Athens, which was last month named by Badoo as the world’s flirtiest city. The average Badoo user in Athens initiates 25.7 flirtations per month.

Nice is the only French city to rank among the 20 flirtiest in the world. To be precise, it ranks 18th in the world, while Strasbourg and Marseille rank joint 33rd, Paris ranks 38th and Lyon 39th.

THE NATIONAL FLIRTATION LEAGUE:

FRANCE’S 20 FLIRTIEST CITIES

Ranking

City

Score

1

Nice

22.3

2

Grenoble

21.2

3=

Strasbourg

21.1

3=

Marseille

21.1

5

Clermont-Ferrand

20.9

6=

Paris

20.7

6=

Reims

20.7

8

Lyon

20.6

9

Metz

20.5

10

Toulouse

20.4

11

Tours

20.3

12

Nancy

20.1

13

Dijon

20.0

14

Amiens

19.7

15=

Nantes

19.5

15=

Rouen

19.5

17

Rennes

19.4

18

Bordeaux

19.1

19

Orléans

18.5

20

Lille

18.4

* Key: shows number of flirtations initiated monthly by average Badoo user in each city